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Yes, and this is important. Many states treat any entity buying power for resale as a utility, subject to the intense oversight of the state's utility commission: rate hearings, etc. Imagine, if you will, that anyone selling bottled water was treated as a water utility. What a nightmare! So this is a good step for Utah.

This kind of regulatory issue is why you see Blink charge by the kWh in some states and by the hour in others. If they're charging by the hour, they have a colorable case that they're not selling energy. Selling kWhs, however, is clearly selling energy, which can entangle them in certain state's utility regulations. Hence Utah's change.

Vermont has had at least one charging station removed because the owner wanted to charge for the electricity but couldn't. It was actually owned by a utility but they were not allowed to have a different rate structure that wasn't approved by the PUC. It was in a good location, too, and I used it on a few occasions. All the other chargers that I know of in VT are free except for one that charges by the hour to park in front of it.

According to the status page, the bill has passed both the House and the Senate and has been enrolled in the House. I'm not familiar with the details of the Utah legislative process, but it sounds like it's being prepared to go to the Governor.

Meta

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